Schmidt said Bradford's retirement was effective immediately after the board approved the agreement.

Board member Bill Sniadecki cast the lone dissenting vote.

Bradford had worked for South Bend schools for some 36 years.

According to Tribune archives, he became principal of Riley in 2006.

Riley is one of three South Bend high schools that had been on academic probation for five years and was at risk of state intervention.

Late this summer, the school corporation found out the test scores of students at all three schools had improved sufficiently for them to be removed from the list.

Francois Bayingana, an assistant principal at Adams High School and formerly an assistant principal at Riley, has served as interim principal at Riley since Bradford's leave began.

In other school-board-related news, a controversial proposal to flip-flop the locations of Riley Early College High School and South Bend New Tech High School was removed from the agenda.

After the meeting, Schmidt said more investigation needs to be done on several issues before Early College students are sent back to Riley and New Tech students take up residence in the old Studebaker School building.

The issue could, at some point, Schmidt said, be brought back to the table.